Mechanical poultry picker



March 18, 1941.

E. E. MCMAHAN Erm. 2,235,619

MECHANICAL POULTRY PICKER Filed Deo. 13, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet J,

Eddy. EMoMaJzcwz/- nO/Ln e QrZeO/y/g mvENToRS ATTO R N EYS March 18, 1941- l E. E. MCMAHAN x-:TAL 2,235,619

MECHANICAL POULTRY PICKER Filed Dec. 13, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet: 2v

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ATTO R N EYS E. E. MCMAHAN Erm. 2.235.619

uEcHANIcAL PouLTRY 'PICKER March 18, `1941.

Filed Dec. 13, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ,f ffii nl llllllllnllu #fa 39 a@ o f2 .goldy limo/Maheu@ nzfoj/ne 072 arleboj/s INVENTORS ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 1s, 194i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Eddy E. McMahan and Antoine Charlebois, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application December 13, 1939, Serial No. 309,088

3Claiml.

This invention relates to a mechanical poultry picker and'has for an object to provide a device of this character having rotating drums provided with radially disposed rubber fingers adapted to impinge against poultry and strip the feathers therefrom during a single operation of dipping the poultry between the drum.

A further object is to provide a device of this character in which poultry is held by the legs and hangs head downward from a clamp carried by a. shaft mounted for vertical movement to quickly lower and raise the poultry relatively to the feather stripping drums, the shaft also having rotary movement on its axis through an arc of 90 at its upper limit of movement to permit the clamp to be swung to the side of the machine for replacing stripped poultry with poultry to be de-feathered.

A further object is to provide a device of this character having simplified mechanism for actuating and timing the movement of the shaft and clamp.

A further object is to provide a device of this character having a novel poultry clamp comprising two superposed arms, the upper arm being movable endwise with respect to the lower arm, the lower arm having slots and the upper arm having hooks coacting with the slots to clamp the legs of poultry.

A further object is to provide a device of this character which will be formed of a few strong simple and durable parts, which will be inexpensive to manufacture, and which will not easily get out of order.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, it being understood that various modifications may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a mechanical poultry picker constructed in accordance with the invention and showing the shaft and clamp in lowered operative position in full lines and in raised and swing laterally position in dotted lines.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 showing the shaft raised at its upper limit of movement and showing the poultry clamp between and above the stripping rollers.

interdigitating.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the device showing the clamp arm in the position shown in Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view taken on the linev 4-4 of Figure 1 showing the mechanism for actuating the shaft.

Figure 5 is a detail vertical sectional view showing the cams for respectively moving the shaft vertically and turning the shaft axially through an arc of 90.

Figure 6 is a detail view in elevation showing 19 the cams turned oppositely to the position shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a detail transverse sectional view taken on the line 1 1 of' Figure 6, showing the shaft rotating mechanism in top plan. l

Figure 8 is a plan view of the poultry clamp in open position.

Figure 9 is a detail cross sectional view of one of the stripping rollers showing the rubber stripping fingers. 20

Figure 10 is a side elevation of one of the stripping fingers.

Referring now to the drawings in which like characters of reference designate similar parts in the various Views, I I) designates a pair of strip- 25 ping drums mounted on respective shafts II carried by bearings I2 which are secured to the upper horizontal bars I3 of a frame I4 which may be formed of angle iron material and supports walls I5 which form a casing or housing for the 30 operating mechanism and the lower portions of the stripping drums.

As best shown in Figure 9, each stripping drum ,comprises a cylindrical hub I6 which is secured to the shaft II. A plurality of rubber fingers 35 I1 are disposed to extend laterally from the hub, each finger having a disk head I8 and a plurality of laterally disposed projections I9. The heads of all of the fingers are clamped to the hub I6 by a cylindrical shell 20 having openings 2| to 40 receive the fingers. The shell is secured to the hub by screws 22 or other connectors.

The stripping drums are rotated toward each other and the stripping fingers are moved in a path in close proximity to each other without Thus when poultry is dipped between the drums the fingers will impinge against the feathers and yield sufnciently to conform to the contour of the poultry while forcefully beating the feathers off the poultry, this beating action being assisted by the projections I9 of the fingers which extend over all the feathered area and effectively de-feather the poultry.

For raising and lowering poultry relatively to the stripping drums a vertically disposed shaft 23, best shown in Figure 5, has a sleeve 24 mounted thereon and provided at the upper end with a head 25 which is supported on the upperv end of a tubular bearing 25 in which the sleeve is rotatably mounted. The bearing is provided with a flange 21 which is bolted to the frame as shown at 28 in Figure l. The sleeve is provided with a longitudinal spline 2l, shown also in Figsleeve is rotated in the'bearinz.

The sleeve is secured at the bottom to a crank arm 3| by a set screw 8. A link 32 is connected to the crank arm andis cam actuated. as will be presently described, to turn the sleeve axially through an arc of alternately with the raising and the lowering of the shaft. The shaft is provided at the bottom with a collar 33 which rotatably receives the shaft and is confined by the ball bearing assemblies 34 on the shaft to permit the shaft to turn easily in the collar. A crank arm 35 is pivotally connected to the co1- lar at one end and is pivotally connected at the opposite end to a cam operated lever 35 for raising and lowering the shaft, as will later be described in detail.

collar 42, best shown in Figures 5 and 6, which is secured to the upper end of the shaft 23 by clamp bolts 43. The upper arm 31 is provided with a longitudinal slot 44 to slidely receive the upper end of the shaft 23 as best shown in Figure 8. Beyond the slot the arm is provided with a curved cam finger 45 which is adapted to engage-an abutment rod 45 which extends vertically from the securing ange 21 of the bear- 25. When the shaft 23 is turned to swing the clamp from a position across the machine above-the stripping drums, to a position longitudinally of the frame I4, as shown by dotted lines in Figure 2, the cam finger will strike the abutment rod 45 during the final stage of turning movement and will withdraw the upper arm 31 rearwardly along the lower arm 35 to open the hooks 40 and permit a de-feathered fowl to be replaced with a feathered fowl. When the clamp on shaft 23 is swung back again through an arc of 90, a helical spring 41 retracts the upper arm outwardly on the lower arm, and, as the cam finger 45. rides off of the abutment rod 45, closes the hooks to securely clamp the feathered poultry by the legs, head downward, for application to the stripping drums. The spring 41 is connected at one end to the upper arm 31 by a pin 48, and is .connected at the other end to a pin 49, which is secured to the lower arm 38 and is slidely t- .ted in a slot 50 formed in the upper arm.

For actuating the stripping drums, an electric motor 5| is mounted on a belt tightener 8 which is secured to the frame I4. The shaft of the motor is equipped with a pulley 52 over which and a pulley 53 on the shaft of one ofthe stripping drumsacrossedbelt 54istrained. Likewisethe motor shaft is equipped with a pulley 55 over which and a pulley 55 on the shaft of the other stripping drum a loop belt 51 is trained. When 5 the motor is started both stripping drums will be rotated toward each other, as indicated by the arrow heads in Figure 1. y y

For actuating the raising and lowering mechanism of the clamp carrying shaft 23. and also for actuating the axial turning movement of the shaft, a pulley 58 is secured to the motor shaft and over this pulley and a pulley 53 on a shaft 55 carried by the frame, as shown in Figures 1 and 4, a belt 5| is trained. The shaft 53 forms a driver for two speed reduction gear trains 52 and 53, which need not be described in detail, and which terminate in respective slow speed shafts 54 and 55, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The shafts 54 and 55 are journaled at the ends in bearings 55 and 51 which are carried by the frame as shown best in Figure 2. The shafts 54 and 55 drive respective cams 58 and 53, best shown in Figures 5 and 6, for controlling movement of the shaft 23.

The cam 58 is pear-shaped and actuates a cross head 15 which slides upon the shaft 54. The cross head is equipped with a roller 1| which is held by a spring 12 against the edge of the cam 58. The cross head is pivotally connected to the link 32 which rotates the sleeve 24 to impart axial turning movement to the shaft 23.

The cam 53 is kidney-shaped and actu..tes the lever 35 which raises and lowers the shaft 23.

The lever 35 is pivoted at one end, as shown at 3 13, to the frame and between its pivoted end and its pivotal connection with the link 35 is provided with a roller 14 which rides upon the peripheral edge of the cam.

In operation, due to the respective shapes of the cams, the shaft 23 will have four movements during each complete revolution of the cam shafts 54 and 55, which, it will be pointed out, are driven at the same speed. First the cam 58 will present one of its sloping sides to the roller 1|, and move the cross head from the position shown in Figure 5 toward the right of the figure, and will rotate the shaft 23 through 90 to swing the poultry clamp to its operative position above and between the stripping drums I5. 5c

Whereupon the concentric peripheral edge of the cam is presented to the roller and the cam is in effective to rotate the shaft 23, but during this ineffective period of the cam 58 the cam 59 presents its high excentric peripheral edge to the 5,

roller 14 and as the roller rides down the edge the shaft 234will be lowered to dip the feathered fowl between the stripping drums. The dipping operation may pause slightlywhile the fowl is lodged between the stripping drums, since the m slight curve of the excentric low side of the cam 58 is presented to the roller 14. As the roller rides up again on the high concentric side of the cam the roller is raised to lift the shaft 23.

When the shaft 23 arrives at its upper limit of 6 prevent feathers being carried out of the housing. 7

.From the above description itis thought that the construction and operation'of the invention will be fully understood without further ex planation.

What is claimed is: l

1. A machine of the character described comprising, a pair of rotary feather removing beater drums provided with a plurality of radially disposed rubber ngers. each nger having a head formed thereon to prevent it from parting from the drum, said fingers being adapted to beat substantially the entire feathered area of a fowl, means to support a single fowl and subject the same to the action of said drums, said means including a vertically movable shaft, a clamp carried by the upper end of the shaft adapted tov suspend poultry by the legs head downward, means for raising and lowering the shaft, and means for intermittently rotating the shaft through an arc of 90 when in its uppermost position.

2. A machine of the character described comprising, a pair of rotaryfeather removing beater drums, radially disposed rubber fingers projecting from vthe drums, said fingers being adapted to beat substantially the entire feathered area of a fowl, means to support a single fowl and subject the same to the action of said drums, said means including a vertically movable shaft, superposed arms having relative sliding movement horizontally onthe upper end of the shaft and having co-acting recesses adapted to clamp the legs of poultry, spring means for holding said arms in clamping position, cam means for sliding said arms against the tension of the spring,

means for raising and lowering the shaft, and

means for intermittently rotating the shaft through an arc of 90 to operate said cam means when the shaft is in its uppermost position.

3. A machine of the character described comprising, a pair of rotary feather removing beater drums, radially disposed rubber ngers projecting from the drums. said fingers being adapted to beat substantially the entire feathered area of a fowl, means to support a single fowl and subject the same to the action of said drums, said means including a vertically disposed shaft, a sleeve splined to the shaft, a stationary bearing for mounting the sleeve, cam means connected to the sleeve for intermittently rotating the sleeve, a collar rotatably mounted on the bottom of the shaft, caml means connected to the collar for raising and lowering the shaft, the arrangement being such that the shaft is rotated by the sleeve before and after vertical movement of the shaft, superposed arms having relative sliding movement horizontally on the upper end of the shaft and having co-acting recesses adapted to clamp the legs of poultry, spring means for holding said arms in clamping position, a cam finger carried by one of the arms, and an abutment adapted to engage said cam finger when the arms are swung to .their limit of movement in one direction for sliding said varms against the tension of the spring to release the poultry.

ANTOINE CHARLEBOIS. EDDY E. MCMAHAN. 

